Thursday, October 18, 2007

Mysterious Monitor

My dad bought a little spy camera for his house, but found it difficult to use for his intended purpose as a security camera. So it was just in the house, not really doing anything. Before we moved we stayed with my parents and we used it as a video monitor to check up on the baby when she was asleep downstairs and we were upstairs. It was super nice to be able to see and hear her without having to go downstairs. My dad was generous enough to let us take it with us and use it in our new house. It has been great to be able to see why she's crying before making the trek all the way upstairs to her room now. But the other day, something odd happened.

When I turned on the monitor one night, I noticed that it had moved. It was no longer directly facing the crib, but was moved slightly to include the rocker that is off to the side of the crib. This has happened before and my theory was that Lee moved it to check up on us. I often do the morning feeding in that chair and sometimes other feedings as well. Lee is pretty groggy in the morning and so in the past we've thought that maybe he moved it to see us, but was too groggy to remember. One time he was sure he hadn't touched it, so I created a new theory that I bumped it somehow while turning it off and it was dismissed again. However, this particular night, it was certain Lee didn't move it because I had checked it later after Lee was up and awake and it was still on the crib. I tried out my second theory by seeing what happens when the auto button is bumped. It immediately began to scan the whole room. It didn't stop. Even when I turned it off, it started scanning again when it was turned back on. That means that I would have had to accidentally bump it twice while in the act of turning it off in order to stop the scanning and not realize it. That was impossible.

Earlier that day I had been with Annalee in her bedroom. I was playing with her and had set her down in the rocker. She loved it! I have a vague memory of thinking that I heard the monitor move while we were there. You can't really hear it move, so the thought never made it completely to my consciousness. But it must of been close because it came back to me when I saw that it was in fact moved to include the rocker. I must have somehow perceived of it moving from the corner of my eye or something. The scary thing is that Lee didn't do it and obviously neither did I. So who moved it??

Since it has a wireless signal, we wonder if the channel is being picked up by someone else who is able to control it somehow. The interesting thing is that a few days previous to the incident, I was talking with my neighbor and she asked about something red I'd had hanging in our bedroom window which is seen only from the backyard. She would have had to really be trying to see them from her yard! She also mentioned that her father was a spy for the US.

Anyone know any programs that can detect wireless signals that come from other devices other than routers/multi-port bridges? Most of them are on the same frequency (2.4 gHz) so I figured a computer's wireless signal would pick it up...maybe not though).

I bet it's some messed up signal. In order for someone to actually see what's going on they would have to an antenna that captured the same frequency and converted it to digital video. In order to turn the camera around some antenna somewhere would have to submit signals. Since the functions on the camera aren't too complex a simple signal would have to be sent out. Really the most likely thing is if someone could control it and look around you could assume that they have the same camera. They may not be trying to mess up your signal. However if they could see you, you could see them via your receiver. However if they have a strong antenna that can pick up sensitive waves they might be able to view you guys without you being able to pick their camera. Then again, if they’re in a car near your house, I doubt they would have a camera plugged in. With a strong antenna they could also control the camera from distances. I’m not sure what it would take to strengthen the antenna, but it would be a home-made-hack. There would probably be some frequency problems. If someone really is trying to watch you guys they would be a pro in my opinion. A man who works for the US Government would be qualified. He teaches his grandson how to build a receiver and convert it to video to display on a TV, and to build a transmitter that sends basic signals. What’s the likely hood? I bet it’s easy to find out how to do something like that on the internet. I learned how to make the device where you send infrared signal and they bounce off a window and bounce back and easily convert it to sound. Why? No reason really. I wouldn’t worry to much, probably just picking up random frequencies, but just to be safe I would start using something else. I'm reminded of something I heard where computer hackers turn on a web cam and they watch you soend time at your computer with no idea. Basically to sum that essay, I would say be safe and use something else.

Ryan and I think it's the ghost of your last apartment. You remember the one that turned on lights and stereos?? He finally found you in Texas. Maybe you should talk to someone in the witness protection program. With new identities he probably couldn't track you down...